Plastic bags and the powers of persuasion

In my suburb of Cleveland, one supermarket uses blue plastic bags; they’re intended to be reused for curbside recycling. (Any metal, plastic with a number, or paper can be recycled curbside, but they must be placed with similar items. Paper in paper bags, everything else separated and in in blue plastic.) There’s also the option of paper or 99 cent reusable bags.

Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s: no plastic, just paper or reusable.

I’d like to try to bring reusable Whole Food bags into Giant Eagle someday, and see the response.

I bring Whole Foods bags into Aldi, and vice versa, quite frequently. No one bats an eye.

Not yet, but the Municipality of Anchorage PTB are talking about putting into effect a 10 cent per bag fee. They aren’t doing it solely for greenage, but because during the “Chinook” (the warm snow melting winds and breezes we get around Spring Breakup) we get a lot of garbage turning up as the snow melts, and apparently a lot of it is in the form of plastic bags.

I have the oh-so-trendy canvas bags, but I am forever forgetting to bring them with me, and like you, I discover I need to grab a few things when I am without them. Also, I re-use my plastic bags at least once before throwing away. You’d think the PTB would come up with a manmade (non tree killing) biodegradeable throwaway bag by now wouldn’t you?

I like the way our grocer does it. They have a courtesy card that they’ll swipe if you forget yours, so you still get the discount. However, they also give gasoline discounts for shopping there, which you won’t get if you don’t have your card.

I have eight of these sturdy shopping bags. Cost? 99c each, bought over a period of about a year. They will hold almost everything I’m likely to buy at one time. They have carried exercise weights, computer equipment, books, food, clothing, and drink. I usually have one with my now as I go about the city. Today I made a number of purchases that had no packaging whatsoever!

Please explain.

Actually, I think that is what I meant: why can’t they be made biodegradable?

They can, it just costs more.

OK (please observe my tongue is in my cheek):

You willingly shop at M&S - I’m afraid that destroyed my sympathy right from the start.
I don’t deny that they sell some decent stuff, but on the whole, I think they could do with less of the pretentious wank.

But are you as keen? Really? if you were, this thread wouldn’t exist at all, because your eagerness to do these things would have meant you’d never fallen foul of the problem.

M&S - a store that makes an art form out of pretentious wank. Just not surprising to find pretentious wankers there, sneering at you.

Yeah! I hate your store so much I’m still going to buy your expensive stuff! That’ll teach 'em.

You’re like the dinner guest who unknowingly drinks the finger bowl - clearly out of your depth in the M&S ocean of pretentious-wank-etiquette. You do not belong here. Go to Tesco.

Oh god, no! You mean they’ve found me out. I *so *wanted to belong. Will I belong even in Tesco? Should I be setting my sights lower- maybe Lidl?

Let’s not go from one extreme right to the other, at least until you’ve got your first ASBO.

I’ve applied for one.